Northwest NEWS

City, county to put guardrail along Trib 90

by Woodinville Weekly staff

WOODINVILLE--Vehicles will finally have a measure of protection as they drive by a ditch near the Hollywood Schoolhouse.

Last week, the Woodinville City Council gave the nod to installing a wooden post and metal beam-type guardrail along the east side of 148th Ave. N.E. as it parallels Trib 90, a tributary of the Sammamish River.

A buried gas line that had caused some concern was found to be one foot east and 1.5 feet above where posts would be sunk.

The city hopes to begin construction August 17 and have the project completed by September 1, according to Deborah Knight, interim public works director. She said hours of construction will be from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and will require one lane to be closed for seven days.

Karen Goto, of the King County Water and Land Resources, said the county will also guardrail their section of Trib 90 along 148th at the same time as the city.

The need for some sort of safety measure there arose last fall when the city and county worked on widening and deepening Trib 90's channel to reduce flooding damage to the road. It became obvious that vehicles needed protection from the four to six-foot deep ditch that was created.

Recently, the city began considering whether to install guardrails or a jersey barrier there before settling on the former last week. Councilmembers had argued that while guardrailing would be more expensive, its looks would be more pleasing than concrete. Cost to guardrail is estimated at $66,947, about $20,000 more than Jersey barriers. While guardrail material is slightly cheaper, it requires more labor to install.

The city will also construct a six-foot wide pedestrian path on a rise just east of the creekbed after the guardrail is in. Cost and landscaping for that will total $16,000.

Still, what's done now may only be a temporary fix. The city may study how to improve capacity at the intersection of State Route 202 and 148th, as well as what to do with Trib 90.